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From the day before yesterday's featured article

Ragnar Garrett (12 February 1900 – 4 November 1977) was Chief of the General Staff in the Australian Army from 1958 to 1960. He completed staff training in England just as the Second World War broke out, joined the Second Australian Imperial Force, and commanded the 2/31st Battalion in England before seeing action with Australian brigades during the German invasion of Greece and the Battle of Crete in 1941. Promoted to colonel the following year, he held senior positions with I Corps in New Guinea and II Corps on Bougainville in 1944–1945. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his staff work. After the war, he served two terms as commandant of the Staff College, Queenscliff, in 1946–1947 and 1949–1951. Between these appointments he was posted to Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. He took charge of Western Command in August 1951, became Deputy Chief of the General Staff in January 1953, and took over Southern Command as a lieutenant general in October 1954. He was knighted in 1959. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The Forsters in the South Sea

... that John Beaglehole described the appointment of Johann Reinhold Forster (pictured with his son George) as naturalist on Cook's second voyage as "one of the Admiralty's vast mistakes"?
... that the University of Virginia threatened to leave the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1949 if the Sanity Code, which barred athletic scholarships, was not amended?
... that Kit Nascimento, a spokesperson for the government of Guyana during the aftermath of Jonestown, disagrees with current proposals to open the former Jonestown site as a tourist attraction?
... that the morning show on an Oklahoma TV station was such a "local phenomenon" that the president of ABC acquiesced to them not airing Good Morning America?
... that Riko Dan, who featured on a UK Top 30 hit in 2024, first performed on the radio in 1994?
... that a blizzard across the United States caused a major water crisis in Richmond, Virginia?
... that it is said that Antoinette Lubaki, Congo's first named woman artist, painted her watercolours by candlelight at night, as no stories were allowed to be told during daylight?
... that Graham Crowley entered the John Moores Painting Prize ten times since 1976 before finally winning in 2023?
... that "Dr. Sex" called for a "Big Breast Renaissance"?

Johnny Gaudreau

... that Johnny Gaudreau (pictured), despite being one of the smallest players in the National Hockey League, was a seven-time All-Star?
... that Paul Steele was elected as council leader on the cut of a deck of cards following the 2022 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election?
... that the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades, which was built to provide water for firefighting, was empty when the 2025 Palisades Fire began?
... that Polish 1960 sci-fi novel Wielka, większa i największa was very influential for Polish young-adult literature?
... that the Eucharistic liturgies of Seek, a Catholic young-adult conference which attracts thousands of attendees, are planned more than a year and a half in advance?
... that in the early 1170s Humphrey III of Toron may have been the lord of Transjordan, but he also may have been dead?
... that Jane Remover was inspired to create Census Designated after a self-described "near-death experience" traveling through a blizzard?
... that Maria Einsmann claimed to be her own husband, Josef, when she registered the births of her companion Helene Müller's two children in 1921 and 1930?
... that Death Angels are Happy?

In the news (For today)

Brigitte Haas

The Patriotic Union, led by Brigitte Haas (pictured), wins the most seats in the Landtag of Liechtenstein.
In American football, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl.
Former president of Namibia Sam Nujoma dies at the age of 95.
A series of boycotts against retail stores expands to several countries in Southeast Europe.
The 49th imam of Nizari Isma'ilism, Aga Khan IV, dies at the age of 88 and is succeeded by his son Aga Khan V.

Two days ago

February 12: Lantern Festival in China (2025); Lincoln's Birthday in some parts of the United States; Red Hand Day

Edvard Munch's The Scream

1691 – A papal conclave convened to select a new pope after the death of Pope Alexander VIII.
1924 – George Gershwin's composition Rhapsody in Blue premiered at Aeolian Hall in New York.
1994 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream (pictured) was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway.
2003 – Protesters in La Paz and the Bolivian government brokered a deal to end two days of rioting against a proposed salary tax.

Ethan Allen (d. 1789)
Charles Darwin (b. 1809)
Bill Russell (b. 1934)
Anna Anderson (d. 1984)

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The day before yesterday's featured picture

Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many scientists initially favoured competing explanations that gave only a minor role to natural selection, and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. This photograph of Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron was taken around 1868.

Photograph credit: Julia Margaret Cameron; restored by Adam Cuerden

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